Speaking of Ford, it seems car makers never stop trying to figure out new ways to aggravate owners. Hearing "it has no plans to use the technology," doesn't inspire much confidence. 

Ford wants to be able to shut down your air conditioner and radio if you miss a car payment—and the car could even drive away on its own

For me 680 News is a must when I drive from the burbs to downtown.  What happens to them?  I find the station a necessity when driving in the GTA.

And don't get me started on the stop start button that kills your engine every time you stop at a light or stop sign.

Last edited by John D (March 16, 2023 11:33 am)

I can see a little more push-back in Canada than in the US. South of the border, sports radio has largely migrated to FM. And sports radio listeners have higher than average incomes and buy new cars more often. Yes, all of Canada's sports radio stations are on HD, but I'm not sure if that's a permanent solution.

As for the emergency argument, I don't buy it. If there's ever an emergency where radio is absolutely vital, the information will be on FM.

May be of interest

https://www.popsci.com/technology/am-radio-electric-vehicles/?amp

RadioAaron wrote:

I can see a little more push-back in Canada than in the US. South of the border, sports radio has largely migrated to FM. And sports radio listeners have higher than average incomes and buy new cars more often. Yes, all of Canada's sports radio stations are on HD, but I'm not sure if that's a permanent solution.

As for the emergency argument, I don't buy it. If there's ever an emergency where radio is absolutely vital, the information will be on FM.

It seems to depend on market and signal strength. 
Buffalo NY is an example of a place that once had Sports Radio on FM @ 107.7, but it failed. 
Sports radio could still go on 107.7, but current ownership won't do that. 
I think it's a signal strength issue, but I am not sure.  
(plus also enough trouble trying to figure out what to do with sister AM stations as is...)

I doubt it will make much difference in the long run, but at least one Chicago AM station is fighting back against Ford's decision to drop the band from almost all of its cars. (How much advertising does the carmaker do on this all- sports station in the first place?) This Tweet is from its manager:

Yep. And then there's the other question - if Ford knew their cars didn't have AM radios, why would they want to advertise on an AM radio station where no one could hear it?

RadioActive wrote:

Yep. And then there's the other question - if Ford knew their cars didn't have AM radios, why would they want to advertise on an AM radio station where no one could hear it?

I think the ad with WCKG's Matt Dubiel was more of a promo stunt.  It looks like this station is an affiliate with the Fox Sports network. The station has some syndicated and brokered programming and nothing local.  So I wouldn't think there would be any Ford advertising that they could actually turn away.  If they had some local Ford  dealer advertising, why punish the local guys?  They had nothing to do with Ford removing AM radios from vehicles.  Corporate does what corporate does. Slapping the local dealerships could backfire on them, but I wonder if they have any in the first place.  

I agree that FM radio is just as useful in the case of an emergency.  When the power went out here for days almost 20 years ago, the go to station was Magic 106 in Guelph.  Sister station CJOY AM has poor coverage in Kitchener/Waterloo even in the daytime.  Newstalk 570 was excellent as well, but CHYM FM was even better with a larger and clearer local coverage area.  

On a related issue, AM radio isn't dead (or at least it shouldn't be) for some people.

FCC shoots down Michigan listener’s attempt to force AM back on the air


PJ